This Memorial is dedicated to the
2nd Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops
and Companies D and I which served at the Battle of Fort Myers

On July 20, 1861
U.S. Army Officer Major French wrote to U.S. Naval Officer McKean, I
have information that a schooner fitted out as a slaver is in the
Caloosahatchee River. Her appointments, I am told, are full..."

On February 20, 1865
Confederates of the 1st Battalion, Florida Special Cavalry attacked Fort
Myers. The attack erupted into a cannon duel with the 2nd USCT in charge
of artillery. The New York Times reported: The colored soldiers at Fort
Myers were in the thick of the fight. Unconscious of danger their
constant cry was to get at them..." At nightfall, the Confederate force
withdrew. A Confederate participant later recalled, "It was seen that
nothing was accomplished."

The Battle of Fort Myers marked the final action of the 2nd USCT in
South Florida Companies D and I left Fort Myers in March of 1865. Fort
Myers was then decommissioned.

USCT Troopers freed and enlisted over 1,000 of the enslaved in Florida
during the Civil War.

In Freedom Cover Me

The war between the states it's called
to make us all one people
one man's bullet is another man's death
in this God makes us equal.

The men who died in the light today
all knew this was the start
of some new age yet undefined
of when we're all a part

This Union Flag I stand beneath
is what's protecting me
from a life of moral death
a life in slavery

When muskets fire if I should fall
in freedom cover me
with these stars from this flag
like leaves from God's great tree